


Like a Second Heart

by adjovi



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2018-11-29
Packaged: 2019-09-02 00:33:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16776049
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adjovi/pseuds/adjovi
Summary: Mostly fluff piece from the Mosiac--peek into the domestic life Quentin and Eliot shared with their son.





	Like a Second Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Title taken from a quote by John Banville, "The Sea": _The past beats inside me like a second heart_
> 
> Special thanks to ohmarqueliot for looking it over for me!
> 
> Kudos and comments are much appreciated--hope you enjoy!

Quentin glanced over at Teddy, smiling as struggled to draw, tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth. He was sitting at the kitchen table with his son, sketching tomorrow’s mosaic plan; Eliot was outside recording their latest failed attempt. And Ted was drawing—something? “What’ya working on, buddy?”

The boy leaned back from the table, arms stiff against the side, appraising his work. “It’s us. Me, you and papa.” He twisted the paper around to show him.

Quentin chuckled. “Is that papa?” He pointed at the giant figure that he assumed was Eliot. Teddy nodded eagerly. “He’s going to be so happy you made him so—big.”

Teddy shrugged. “He is big.” He twisted the picture back around, coloring in more of Eliot’s hair, which was billowing out like a large, black cloud. Quentin laughed again to himself. “Hey, Daddy?”

“Yep.” Quentin absently wiped at his brow, trying to figure out what to do with the green. He flicked his eyes towards his son. “What’s up?” He felt his gut twist in anticipation at the suddenly serious look on Teddy’s face. The boy was now seven and a half, and the questions had been more and more thoughtful lately. And, he felt more and more out of his depth on how to answer.

“Do you love papa like you loved mommy?”

Oof. Yep. One of those. He laid his chalk to the side. “Well, I love your papa and I will always love mommy.” He could tell by the way Teddy was scrunching up his face and shaking his head that the answer wasn’t satisfactory. Quentin blew out a long breath.

“But, you loved papa first, right?”

Quentin sighed. “Yep. We were friends back on Earth—before. Good friends, best friends, actually.” He reached over, ruffling Teddy’s hair, then smoothing it against his brow. It was so strange seeing this little human who looked almost an exact replica of _himself_ at that age, but whose personality was almost nothing like him. In fact, he was a lot more like Eliot, with the fire of Arielle mixed in. He felt a swell of love in his chest so fierce towards his son; a love he didn’t even know he was capable of. “Then we came here, me and your papa, and we fell in love. Later on, I met your mom, and fell in love with her, too.” It had almost been three years, but he still felt the lump forming in his throat when he talked of her.

“She loved papa, too?” Teddy’s face was so earnest, trying to work things out, that it nearly broke Quentin’s heart.

“She sure did.” He looked down at the table, not wanting to break down in front of his son. Once he got control of himself, he smiled at Teddy. “She was very special.”

“Hmm.” Teddy was scratching out what looked to be their tiny cottage behind their family, but it was listing precariously towards one side. “So, who do love more?”

Quentin closed his eyes. “That’s not—that’s not how it works.” He smiled crookedly at him. “I’m pretty lucky, you know? Getting to love the both of them. And, you.”

“Yeah, but—“

“Do you love me more than papa?” He asked, his tone teasing, reaching over to poke Teddy in the belly.

Teddy giggled. “ _Noooo_.”

“And, do you love papa more than me?”

Teddy rolled his eyes dramatically. Yep, definitely all Eliot. “No!”

“Well, there you go, then.” He nodded at his son, picking up the green chalk, making marks looking what he hoped was a fern. Apparently, Teddy had inherited his total lack of artistic talent.

“So, are you and papa going to have a baby?”

Well, fuck. “Uh. That’s not how—two men can’t have a baby.” Holy shit—this kid was only seven. How in the hell had this become his life? ”Has to be a mommy _and_ a daddy.”

“So, are you going to find a new mommy, then?” Teddy was regarding him so sedately, open face patiently waiting for an answer. Something else he'd picked up from Eliot.

“Uh. No. Not really in the market for that.” He smiled at Teddy again, making his tone jokey. “What, aren’t me and papa enough?”

“ _Daaaad_.” He bent over the drawing again, adding a—dog? Wishful thinking, kid. He had been nagging the two of them for the better part of the last few weeks, ever since they’d heard their neighbor’s dog had puppies. He would wear them down eventually, but it would still be a few more weeks before those puppies were ready to leave their mother.

Quentin sat back in his chair, arms crossed across his chest. He knew his son well enough to know this line of inquiry had to have come from someone else. He briefly considered Eliot, but he knew he would have come to him first. “So, who asked you if I was looking for a new mommy?”

Teddy shrugged again, coloring in the dog to look exactly like the Avery’s. “Marna said her mommy was asking.”

Shit. That fucking woman. Lilta had made no secret of the fact that she was interested in Quentin. Eliot had found this _hi_ larious and would tease him mercilessly about it. That she planted any seeds of doubt in his own son’s mind royally pissed him off. “Well, I’m going to have some choice words with Marna’s mom—“

Eliot stepped into the room. Quentin hadn’t realized he had been standing there; didn’t know how much he had heard. “You know I’d be ok with it, though, right?”

Quentin shook his head incredulously. “You have _met_ her, right?”

Eliot smiled easily at him, swinging onto the chair nearest Teddy. “I didn’t mean her.” He tilted his head at the drawing, asking silent permission to inspect it. Teddy spun it around to proudly show him. “Ah. So. Is this me?” He pointed at the hairy giant. “Quite the likeness.” His eyes were smiling as he winked up at Quentin. But, his face grew a bit more serious, his voice soft. “I would be ok with it, you know?”

“El, please. I don’t want—“ He sighed, running a hand through his hair, looking sidelong towards Teddy. “Can we talk about this later?”

Eliot blinked at him, giving him a slow smile. “Yep.” He pulled the drawing back over, tapping the page, looking over at their son. “Is this a dog?”

Teddy smiled at him excitedly. “ _Our_ dog!”

“Hmm. Well, Q, I think we’re in trouble.” He dropped the page onto the table, smiling at him sheepishly.

***

Eliot rolled over as he entered the room, making space for Quentin in their bed. Eliot swiped at his eyes, sleepily. “He go down ok?”

“Yeah.” Quentin was yanking off his clothes, stripping down to his underwear. “Got to the part where Dorothy went to Oz, and her house dropped on the Wicked Witch of the East? West?” He pulled a sleep shirt over his head, muffling his words. “East.”

Eliot leaned up on his elbow. "I'd probably skip the bit with the flying monkeys. That shit is nightmare fuel."

"Valid point." He shoved back the covers, kneeling down on the bed. He gave Eliot a quick kiss before turning around, settling his back against Eliot’s chest. “He was super psyched to find out that Dorothy had a dog, too.”

Eliot nuzzled the hair on the back of his neck. “Yeah. I think that’s a done deal at this point.” He settled one hand over Quentin’s stomach, lazily tracing patterns with his fingers. “Boys and their dogs. You ever have a dog?”

Quentin yawned. “Nope. My mom’s allergic. But Julia’s family had one—this giant Golden named ‘Luna’. She was awesome.”

He felt Eliot nod into his shoulder. “We always had dogs. Being on a farm and all. But this one we had—‘Murdock’—me and him were buds.” His hand slipped up under Quentin’s sleep shirt, skin against skin.

Quentin laughed softly. “’Murdock’? As in ‘Daredevil’?”

Eliot’s fingers stilled. “Huh. I never thought about it. But, I bet you’re right. My one brother was way into comics. He probably named him.” He ran his hand up Quentin’s side, causing him to shiver, kissing him behind his ear.

“You know, that reminds me.” He twisted around so he could look Eliot in the face. “Next time we’re in town, we need to visit the locksmith.” Even with the door closed, Teddy had a bad habit of climbing into their bed in the middle of the night, and once they had almost been caught out. A quickie in the tool shed about a week ago had released some of their frustrations, but he wasn’t too keen on being naked around that many sharp objects anytime soon. “Jesus--I want to lock my child out of the bedroom so I can have sex. Does that make me a horrible person?”

Eliot’s eyes crinkled at the corners, and he slid his hand up Quentin’s side again, pulling him closer. “That makes you a horny person. Which I, of course, want to encourage. Besides, we can always unlock the door once the coast is clear. Think of it as an early warning system.” He nosed at Quentin’s neck before kissing him along his jaw.

Quentin allowed himself to be distracted by this for a moment before pulling back, regarding Eliot seriously. “Hey El?” Eliot blinked drowsily at him, clearly distracted himself. “I meant what I said earlier. I’m not looking for anyone else.”

Eliot nodded slowly. “And, I meant what I said, too. I would be ok—“

Quentin reached out and laid a hand against his cheek, running his thumb over the stubble of Eliot’s jaw. “I know. And, I appreciate it, but really, what we have? Our family? You and me? It’s enough. More than, even.” He surprised himself at the sincerity of his words.

Eliot leaned into his touch. “I just want you to be happy. She made you happy.”

Quentin leaned over, kissing him softly. “ _You_ make me happy.” He pulled back to get a better look at Eliot. “And yeah—I loved her, very much. And, I love that she gave us Teddy—and I wouldn’t trade him for the world. But, I don’t think we’ll find someone like her again. She was one of a kind.” When they agreed he would court Arielle, he had been sure to put all of the cards on the table from the very beginning. He and Eliot were a package deal, one that she immediately accepted, allowing them to make space for her in their lives, and not the other way around. Sure, things had been tricky at times, but they had gotten through it, all of them growing closer as a result.

“She was.” He could see the shadow of loss pass over Eliot’s face, and he pulled him closer, hugging him. Eliot hugged him back, sharing the comfort he was providing. Eliot took a deep breath. “So, should I be concerned that our son apparently thinks I look like André the Giant?”

Quentin chuckled in relief, glad the conversation had moved beyond serious. “Well, you do look imposing in certain lighting.” Eliot scoffed, and Quentin smiled warmly at him. His heart felt so full, just then, and he realized how completely in love he was with Eliot. He had stuck with him through _all_ of the shit and even now was willing to bring someone else into their lives just to make _him_ happy. He cupped both of his hands around Eliot’s face. “I really fucking love you, you know that?”

Eliot nodded. “I do. I love you, too.” He drew Quentin closer, the teasing kisses quickly turning into something more heated. Quentin felt his body immediately responding, moving closer, unable to stop the hushed moan that escaped his lips as Eliot rubbed his cock against his hip. He slipped his hand under Eliot’s shirt, running a hand up the hard planes of his stomach to grip his shoulder, tugging him down—

***

Quentin opened his eyes slowly, his labored breath the only other sound in the room besides a ticking clock. He didn’t know where he was, but he did recognize the four people who were looking at him expectantly. Until five minutes ago, they had just been strangers, crazy insane people trying to convince him he was someone else. He blinked, trying to gain his bearings.

“Q?” Margo stepped forward hesitantly, regarding him with real concern.

“Yeah. I—“ He swallowed thickly. He was suddenly flooded with images of the Monster wreaking havoc, using Eliot’s body to cause death and destruction. “Oh, _fuck_!” He felt bile in the back of his throat, like his legs were unable to support him. He must have stumbled, because Margo rushed forward, catching him by his forearms. “Jesus Christ, Margo. That _thing_ has Eliot!”

She pulled him down into a hug, and he felt his eyes swimming with tears. “I know, baby. I know.” He glanced over her shoulder at Josh, Kady and Penny. They all looked like they had been through some real shit themselves. Well, fuck. “We’re going to fix this, ok? We’re going to get him back.”

Quentin pulled back from her, and she gently swiped away a tear that had slipped down his cheek. “We _have_ to save him.” His voice was shaking, and he didn’t even care that the others were watching.

“Fuck yeah we do.” She smiled at him, her own eyes shining. “It’s good to have you back, Q.”

“Dude, you ok?” Kady nodded at his forehead, and he put his hand up. It came back smeared with blood.

“Oh. That’s--” He looked dumbly back down at his hand. “It’s, uh. Not mine.”

“What was that asshole doing, anyways?” Penny scowled at him.

Things were coming back to him from the last couple of days in flashes. When Penny had traveled in to rescue him, the Monster had been distracted, focused on one of It’s _experiments_. “Uh, if you ever wondered how long a person can survive without skin.” He tried wiping the blood off on his jeans. “Not long. Is the answer.” His voice sounded hollow in his own ears.

“Holy fuck.” Kady shook her head. “And here, we thought shit was bad when it was just the Library coming after us.”

“So, what was it?” Quentin swung his head around to look at Josh. “What was the memory that brought you back? Mine was banging a werewolf chick, which, I guess was more momentous than I realized at the time.”

“Oh.” The cogs began to turn in his mind. Of course. It was the moment he realized he had fallen totally in love with Eliot. And yeah, ok. They’d been such big fucking idiots who never really acknowledged what had happened between them, thought that saving magic and a kingdom were more important at the time. But in the end, they’d both lost those things, anyways. He wouldn’t make the same mistake again. When they got Eliot back--and it was not a question of if but _when_ \--Quentin would tell him that falling in love with him had been the most important thing that had ever happened in his life. He turned back towards Margo. “It was Eliot.”

She gave him a watery smile. “Obviously.” She took in a deep breath, squaring her shoulders. “Well, let’s figure out a way to evict that rat fucker and get him back.”

As Brian, he had been relatively happy, going about his boring, mundane life, checking all the boxes. He hadn’t known that he had been missing anything; didn’t even know to look for it. Then, his life had been abruptly turned upside down. For the last few weeks, he’d only known terror and confusion. Standing there with his friends, he felt his resolve forming in his chest. He recognized that having a purpose was what he had been missing all this time. Getting Eliot back was his main focus, his _only_ focus, now. He stood up straighter, reaching over with his clean hand to squeeze Margo’s arm once. “Let’s do this.”


End file.
